PANORAMA : The «new» Ukrainian cinema

20 years of freedom

Saturday march 12th > 19 h 30 > Petit théâtre de l’UQAC

 

The history of Ukrainian cinema was for a long time linked with that of Russian and Soviet cinema. It was only from 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s independence, that one can talk about a truly original cinema. Having undergone many changes since, it is now talked about by many as a new Ukrainian cinema which may at last profit from the benefits of having its own identity. However unrecognized by Québec’s public, it is nevertheless the reflection of an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Through skimming over the swell of this new trend, see what the concerns of Ukraine’s new cineastes are. What does emerge from this post-independence cinematographic portrait? How is the new freedom expressed? How is this Ukrainian creativity, this acknowledged new cinema transposed on the screen?

This program, exclusive to REGARD, was created in collaboration with Denis Nikitenko, artistic director of the Molodist Kyiv international film festival in Kiev. These films were born out of an urgency to create which is quite similar to the one which also permeates Québec’s short films.

Take part in the discussion that will take place immediately after the films projection about the evolution of cinematographic production since the country’s independence in 1991.

• Graffiti of Yevhen Khvorostyanko
  Ukrainia > 1999 > fiction > 10 min

  Children and adults don’t understand each other. Who will find way out of this – wise adults or children? Children will do that.

• Tram #9 of Stepan Koval
  Ukrainia > 2002 > animation > 10 min

  Plasticine version of the everyday life of ordinary people taking the Ishov tramway No. 9 at rush hour. Modern society depicted via the microcosmic representation of its public transportation system.

• Proty sontsya (Against the Sun) of Valentin Vasyanovych
  Ukrainia > 2004 > documentary > 20 min

  A young potter, Tymofiy, tries to overcome marital problems by his artistic development…

• Podorozhni (Travellers) of Igor Strembitsky
  Ukrainia > 2005 > documentary > 10 min

  Lullaby my baby, its sleepy time. I’ll lay my head on the white pillow and, perhaps, fall asleep. A film about childhood which never returns, dreams which never come true and craziness which may be bliss or sorrow.

• Klyatva (The Oath) of Maryna Vroda
  Ukrainia > 2007 > fiction > 13 min

  When all or nothing, when forever or never...

• Glukhota (Deafness) of Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
  Ukrainia > 2009 > fiction > 11 min

  A ten-minute episode in the lives of the pupils at a deaf-mute boarding school is reconstructed in real time.

• li mistse porozhne (Her Seat is Free) of Bohdana Smyrnova
  Ukrainia/USA > 2010 > fiction > 17 min

  Vira, a forty-year-old Ukrainian immigrant in New York, is preparing for her sister's funeral. Amongst all her responsibilities, Vira suddenly finds herself falling in love.

Molodist

Created in 1970, Molodist, which means youth in Ukrainian, is an international festival for first time works that diffuses short films, first feature films and students’ films. This festival also successfully launched itself in the distribution of artistic international films. With the passing years, Molodist has thus seen the beginnings of great cineastes such as Gaspar Noé, Danny Boyle, Laurent Bouhnik, Jacques Audiard, Valeriy Todorovskiy, François Ozon and many others.

Denis Nikitenko, Directeur artistique Molodist, Festival international du film de Kiev